Mortis Daughter
by Djingin
Summary: The past can create the most haunting of things if kept contained. OC warning. Disturbing content.
1. Chapter 1

The itch of the school cardigan on her arms almost made her want to retch. Feeling it twist as she gripped it in her hands she no longer paid attention to the rambling teacher at the black board, something about how new laws effect us and the like – it didn't bother her. The paper in front of her held no interest for her either and the scribbles of butterflies and cracked walls showed her desperation of freedom.

"Mercy?" The clock had started to irritate her, ticking by incessantly like it wanted her to be obvious of the time, "Mercy?" Why did she even have to be here? She didn't choose law by choice, "Mercy!". Her head shot up and noticed the teacher looking at her sharply.

"Mercy, may you please be a little more alert in my lesson!" The teacher huffed "Honestly child is like teaching the dead" She heard a few titters from either side of her. Bloody girls. The lesson continued and she attempted to listen although taking it in was another matter. A bell chimed to sound the end of the lesson and the scraping and shuffling of movement echoed around her, everything always seemed in fast forward. She slung her satchel strap on her bag and hooked an arm round a heavily filled folder and began walking to the door,

"Mercy?" The teacher's voice shrilled from behind her, she turned her eyes before her head and looked to the stuffy lady, "Is something the matter?" The lady genuinely looked concerned,

"No miss" She replied, she stayed still awaiting another question,

"You are so unlike the other girls dear" Was that an insult or an observation? Mercy blinked, "You know that we teachers aren't monsters, we are people to confide in" the teacher looked her in the eye, she merely blinked again,

"Yes miss, everything's fine miss" she looked down, "Can I go miss?" the teacher huffed and nodded as if exhausted. She exited the door, the corridors smelled like old varnish and new shoes. She reached her hand into her pocket and switched her mp3 on; tunes began to play into her head, Morrissette. It was the only time she really did smile.

Mercy Mae Connolly, a seventeen year old student at a school for girls in Ireland's green and pleasant land. There was little much else to tell. Mercy's mother had died when she was a child, a sob story that she really didn't find upsetting because she'd been too young. Her father was rarely at home, a business man that spent more time with his money than his daughter – that suited her fine. Other things had happened, some of them dark things but she didn't talk about them. Nobody would really want to listen anyway, they wouldn't believe her. In truth what Miss had said was very true for her – she was unlike other girls but again it suited her just fine. She'd never really aspired to be like somebody else.

In actuality Mercy was anything but depressed, despite her lack of social interaction and being classed as 'weird' at school those things didn't bother her. In her own unique way Mercy was happy and at peace with her life. Why others pitied her was beyond her, she was never really bullied, people would pick out weird things about her like the scar that ran from mid thigh to her collar bone – p.e lessons were always interesting. But it didn't phase her. Mercy was a child of her own creation.

It was getting dark as she walked home, a chill ran up her legs and she sped her pace up a little to keep warm. Mercy lived in a little cottage in the village of Slane, a peaceful place that rarely saw excitement except for some of its famous places being bombarded by tourists at certain times in the year. Her home was near the centre of the village, most people knew her because of her 'traumatic' childhood and the old dears of the village would always be overly nice to her. She put up with it, it was because they cared for her of course.

Nothing much scared Mercy, she'd never really had reason to be scared but one place always held a sense of dread for her. A place that she had to go through to get home and on winter days such as this when the darkness came much sooner it was almost intolerable – the graveyard. She stood at the gates of the familiar place, smelling the rust of the cast iron and upturned earth. She gripped her bag tighter before resuming a quick pace through the disturbing area the feeling of someone following her always increased here.

She had gotten about halfway before she thought that the footsteps her imagination created felt a lot more lifelike than usual. He heart beat increased as a step came out of place with her own and she could swear she heard someone clearing their throat. She gulped and breathed in invisible courage before turning around; she opened her eyes – nothing. She looked about her and hated her imagination,

"H-hello?... god I'm talking to nothing..." She scolded herself. She turned and began to walk again and her imagination continued on with its footsteps. She arrived at the other end of graveyard, a sigh of relief escaping her lips before she crossed the road. A light above her porch shone its greeting as she fumbled in her pocket for her keys, unaware of a shadow behind her until a large hand slammed into the door at her side. She screamed before turning round to be met with two harsh eyes and bad breath.

"Home alone eh?" The large man smirked at her as she shivered visibly, "Well?"

"N-no!" she blurted out, "Dads home" she felt like she was hyperventilating. The man shook his head,

"Lying little bitch I know no one's home!" he slammed his fist against the door again and she yelped, feeling spittle land on her face, "Open the door!" she nodded and shaking as she got her keys in the door, she opened the door and fell to the floor, the large man stepped over her with little care. She stared at him clinging a hand to her chest,

"Where is that bitch!" He yelled, stomping through the house, he came back into the hallway and glared at Mercy, "Where's that slut you call your mother!" he growled, Mercy stared with a mix of fear and confusion,

"S-she's dead" she mumbled, the man roared and grabbed her by the throat,

"Speak up you little whore!" He shook her making her head spin,

"She's dead!" she screamed, noticing the expression of surprise on the intruders face. The man was temporarily dumfounded by the response. He shouted something and threw Mercy at the wall. She gasped and fell against the wall winded. Her eyes blurred and she heard things being thrown and moved with force, thumps on the floor as the large man stomped about her home. She tried to lift herself, feeling a pain in her head that pulsed with her heartbeat. She held her palm against the wall, feeling a burning heat encompassing her as she attempted to get to the door; she reached the frame just as the man reached the landing,

"You're staying here!" He boomed from the stairs, Mercy looked back and screamed, shooting out the door as fast as her legs could carry her. She ran to the cemetery, feeling cold immediately despite her panic and the hurt in her head. She heard the man behind her, grunting to keep up despite the evident difference in weight. Suddenly she felt something hit the back of her neck, a brick? Her eyes widened at the pain as something snapped, she fell to the floor her eyes still gaping as her brain tried to register what had happened. Everything was muffled but she still heard the panting as the man came up behind her, sitting on her legs and gripping her neck.

"Your dead body will be a lovely present for mummy" he growled, squeezing and suffocating her. She squirmed underneath him attempting to escape, just wanting him to go away – she didn't even know who he was. The pain in her head was getting bigger she wanted everything to go away! She felt he eyes closed and tried to imagine being somewhere else, she wanted this man to get off! Suddenly she felt the man's hand almost ripped off her throat and she breathed in precious air frantically. She got to her hands and knee's suddenly aware of strangled screaming from behind her she turned and fell back at the sight before her.

The intruder was dangling by his neck from deep red tendrils that dripped a thick liquid not unlike blood – the air smelled like death. More tendrils wrapped about the man's thick wrists and legs, tensing and relaxing like a heartbeat. Her heartbeat. The man glared down at her in fear and confusion as the thing torturously suffocated him. A word laced her lips but her mind reeled in the duality of saying it. She dared to speak,

"Die..." the word made the tendrils shiver and immediately they twisted, the man gave a horrific scream before his neck was broken in a sickening snap. The screaming stopped but the tendrils continued, squeezing the limbs of the corpse until they were crushed, blood dripping to the floor dangerously close to Mercy. She stared in horror as the tendrils seemed to play with the body.

"s-stop!" she gasped, the tendrils stopped, the body falling to the ground with a heavy squelch. She grimaced and looked back up to the many tendrils as they almost danced, gradually they shrank back down into the ground like giant worms, the ground rumbled as they moved below. Mercy sat dumbstruck, her eyes moving down to the bloody flesh before her, she stood her legs shaking beneath her.

Her eyes then moved around her, silence, except for the night time insects and... groaning? She snapped her head to the direction the groaning was coming from, she felt like she was in some kind of horror movie. A grotesque form made its way up from one of the holes, she screamed at the image of a half rotten corpse its hollow sockets fixed on her. Her fear spurred her as she shot up and ran, hearing more scrabbling and movement from the other holes. She saw her home, the door still open and the porch light on. She got to the door and slammed it shut, the noises of voices and screams in her head. What had happened, one minute she was walking home and then this happened! Her head still hurt, she felt like the entire house was shaking, she felt herself bleeding and pain wracked her body. She jumped forward from the door as she heard something like nails scratching from the other side; it was 'them',

"Leave me alone!" She screamed, falling to the stairs. What did they want with her? The door suddenly started banging, fists pounding on the doors wanting to get in. She ran upstairs, away from the door and shut her own bedroom door. Her room was torn apart, glass and broken china dolls that she had lovingly collected were strewn about the place, she screamed in anger and kicked the pieces her feet cut from the sharp edges. A burst from downstairs signalled the breaking of the front door, she gasped searching for a hiding place.

"I will protect you..." a voice entered her head, she stood flat against the wall, her hands clinging to the wallpaper, "be at peace..." the voice came to her again and she breathed calmly, her eyes closed she felt her hands become sticky and the sound of cracking echoed from either side of her. The glass and broken porcelain around her began to shake, skimming across the floor and surrounding her as she became cornered. The walls cracked and dark red vines sprouted from beneath the wallpaper, wrapped around her hands and clinging to her, "They do not understand why you have awakened them" Mercy opened her eyes to see half rotten bodies slowly melt before her, their eyes forever gazing, "We will help you" The voices seemed to echo "You have seen so much pain, we will heal you".

Mercy just stared, absorbed by what was happening. The shards were fluttering around like butterflies and moths – the glass suddenly becoming just that, one skimmed past and cut her cheek. The limbs, bones and organs of dead bodies wound into thin vines, encompassing the room and floor,

"W-why?" was all she could whisper,

"You did this" the voice responded, Mercy slid down the wall, her hands still wound within the red vines "You can do so much more, what this world has done to you, you can repay it tenfold". Other voices played in her head, events, laughter and crying "No one else will hurt you".


	2. Chapter 2

He felt the dull pulse of a new mutant, occasionally it would jump the power surge would increase and drop. He'd followed it for a while now, intrigued by how the power had not effected the user. But last night Professor Xavier had received a terrible surge from that mutant, almost knocking him back out of his chair. Something had changed and the mutant had lost control, but then it had subdued, the wild uncontrollable release of power now contained, but he still worried. He now sat with his dearest companions and fellow mutants. Jean, Scott, Logan, Ororo and Hank sat around the table, awaiting Xavier to speak – however one still had yet to arrive.

"I don't see why we have to wait for the Cajun" Logan grumbled, folding his arms and leaning back in the chair, Ororo raised an eyebrow at the gruff man and shook her head,

"Logan you must not be so impatient" The weather goddess scolded softly, 'although he is taking his time' she thought inwardly. Jean smiled to her and winked. It was then that the door softly slid open, the tall and charming Remy Le'beau entering the room,

"Remy neva' was good at keepin' time" He smirked while lazily sitting down with the rest of the group,

"We've noticed" Wolverine growled as the Cajun joined them, giving him a mean look,

"Aw, harsh mon ami'" The Cajun responded, putting a hand to his chest in mock hurt. Scott looked to the doctor, ignoring the two men,

"Professor, you said you had something to discuss, since we're all here now would you mind filling us in?" Xavier nodded, his hands forming into a peak to rest his chin on as the group waited for him to begin,

"Very well, thank you all for coming – I gathered you all here because of a new signal I've been watching over the past weeks" Jean raised her eyebrows,

"A new mutant?" She questioned, "It has been very quiet lately, I was beginning to think that we had discovered them all" She smiled to herself, of course the suggestion of the end of new mutants was unrealistic to say the least it had somehow felt that way. Their main concentration had been on the mutants that they now schooled as well as Magneto who so far had been a rather powerful thorn in their side. He had already manipulated Pyro to join him and appeared that he was treating him much like his son. Along with the other powerful mutants in his guild he was becoming more of a threat each day. Jean wandered away from her ponderous thoughts and looked back to the Professor,

Xavier began to speak "I was unsure to begin with myself at the appearance. Sometimes Cerebro can pick up on certain frequencies that appear much like the signals of a growing power but then they cut off. Often the reason behind this is because the lingering power has not been keyed into or it simply does not have enough energy to grow. But this one has peaked my interest" The Professor thought back on the previous night and the pain that had come from that power "Whomever possesses this power was able to control it, consciously or not but I think for a very long time, until last night" The feeling of curiosity rose as the Professor paused, "Something caused the individual to lose control and whatever power had been contained spilled out. I still have a lock on the power but for now it is at an almost comatose state"

"So what is so amazing about it?" Wolverine interrupted, he could really do with a smoke, he thought. Scott clenched his jaw with a silenced retort towards the impatient feral, no doubt Jean mentally hushing him, The Professor continued calmly,

"Usually when power is unearthed the feelings I receive from the individual are mainly fear or amazement... sometimes hatred and detachment. From this individual there was only a sense of freedom" His eyes wandered somewhere else, "Although what I saw of this release of power and its link with this emotion is what worries me. Sometimes, when a power is released, the person may... sadly injure or sometimes kill those around them" Remy shifted in his seat, uncomfortable of the link to his own past,

"Although a fledgling mutant, this individual has killed purposefully and with intent of returning the pain they inflicted" Eyes widened around the table, "If Magneto finds this mutant then he will certainly use that killing instinct to his advantage"

"You think he may have already located them" Scott questioned, an unnerving feeling in the pit of his stomach,

"That I'm unsure of, he has been quiet... something I'm relieved by but also worried by as well" Xavier's eyebrows knotted, Magneto relished the power within newly fledged mutants. Powers with the desire of killing from the start even more so, there was less need to manipulate. "Jean, Gambit and Wolverine, I want you to go and find this individual, bring them back here as quick as you can" The three mutants nodded, Scott slightly on edge at the two other mutants accompanying his wife, Jean squeezed Scott's hand sensing his unease.

"I'm not entirely certain of what you will face, I have not witnessed the specifics of this power only the emotions it has wrought. But Wolverine and Gambit I want you to be ready if things get dangerous for Jean – but remember, only subdue the individual, I don't want anyone seriously harmed"

"Do not worry Professor we not fail" Remy grinned, before standing up, "Not wit' the lovely chere keepin' us company" he winked at Jean and she smiled back,

"Watch it Gumbo" Wolverine gripped his collar, before pushing him back none to gently,

"You not know how to take a joke mon ami?" Remy frowned, smoothing out his coat lapels. Wolverine grumbled some obscenity before exiting through the doors

"I'll go start the jet up" he shot a glare at the Cajun "Come'on your helpin'" he growled, not giving Remy time to protest he made his way down the corridor, Remy looked at the group,

"Guess Remy'd bedda go help" he muttered sarcastically before running from the room to catch up with the older man. Hank, who had been quiet for the majority of the meeting, turned to the professor.

"You think it wise for Logan and Remy to be on the same mission together?" he questioned, the professor nodded and smiled to the blue doctor. Hank trusted the professors judgement and quieted once again, he would have to prepare for the new mutants arrival.

"I feel that with time they will bond... in some fashion. Whats more Remy hasn't been on many missions since his arrival, he does well when he does attend, But Jean keep an eye on them" He smiled to the red head, reassured just by her very aura of energy and his long time friendship that she would do just that.

"Babysitter again" Ororo chuckled,

"Oh the fun" Jean giggled before kissing Scott on the forehead, "Do not worry love" she stroked his hair "As much as those boys tease they know not to do anything more" Scott smiled, albeit slightly forced,

"Don't forget to contact with information upon your arrival. If anything gets out of hand I will have the others on standby" He handed Jean a disk, she took it holding it to her chest "Jean your headed to Slane in Ireland, that disk contains co-ordinates to the nearest air field and other information regarding your destination. I'm sure that the closer you get to this mutant the easier her brain waves will be detected. The jet should get you there within the next couple of hours" Jean nodded to the professor before exiting the room. Ororo watched her friend dissapear from their sight,

"Do you really think this new mutant could be as dangerous as you predict?" She pulled on a tendril of hair,

"They have lost control, I do not know if they have regained it or it has become too much that they have simply shut down so to speak. New mutants are the most unpredictable" Ororo nodded, somewhat satisfied with the professors response but her concern still remained. They would just have to see what would become of this mutant once the others returned.

Remy sat in the cockpit of the team's jet, his chin rested lazily on the palm of his hand as he waited for Jean and the minor checks that Wolverine was still completing. His attention span had wavered for a while as he'd helped Wolverine with the first few checks but then he'd grown bored... bikes were much more his thing. Wolverine had waved him off; for once he was more interested in his work than chewing him out and had let Remy continue into the jet.

His ruby eyes stared out of the window, at nothing in particular, his mind more in focus with his thoughts to care what was going on around him. The professor had unwittingly brought back memories of his time with his foster family and the disturbing end to it all. Although he had killed after that, albeit by his past masters doing he had never killed with a want of killing. It had always been his 'job' and that was how he had kept it. He would kill to save others and up until now that had been his only reasoning. When he joined the X-men the role of a killer stopped and he became almost a crusader like the rest of them – although he still desired to be somewhat apart.

But this new mutant had killed with a desire much like his previous master. He shuddered at the thought. How old was this fledgling? They must have been older than some of the students here to have the mentality capable of wishing death – there was a gaping space between thinking about killing somebody and actually doing it. He flipped a card between his fingers, it somehow calmed him.

Steps echoing on metal made him put the card away and begin to look like he was doing something as he saw Wolverine enter the jet, followed shortly by Jean.

"We're off to Ireland" she chirped, sitting down in the central cockpit and automatically taking control. The jet was her baby really.

"Ireland? Dat in Europe non?" Remy raised an eyebrow, Jean nodded,

"Its winter to, so be prepared for a chilly welcome" She smiled and inserted the disk Xavier had given her into the jets computer. A large map flicked onto the screen in front of her, showing the co-ordinates and automatically inputting them.

"Remy don' do cold" the Cajun grimaced emphasising his dislike with a sneer. Wolverine remained quiet, the cold was something he neither disliked nor liked. A great deal of his life had been spent in the snowy mountains and forests of Canada – so it was more he was trained to that climate,

"The Professor given us any more info on this kid?" Logan questioned, Jean turned and shook her head, he smirked, "Guess we're in for a surprise then".

Jean did a few final checks before setting the jet into motion. The ground it was positioned upon began to turn, the nose of the plane gradually coming to face the opposite wall. The wall then began to rise, revealing a dark tunnel with light at the end and small dotted lights in the corners of the walls.

"Brace yourself" the jet began to speed into the tunnel, the pitch black vehicle almost disappeared in the darkness. Suddenly the Jet flew into the white light; Remy shielded his sensitive eyes from the quick change. Whiteness soon revealed a clouded sky with greenery below them. The mansion and its grounds gradually became smaller as they continued their way out of America.

Time had lost meaning now, she didn't know how long she'd been here but it had seemed like time had seemed to stop. She gazed up her eyes heavy from little sleep, butterflies and moths still fluttered around but every now and then one of them would drop and splinter into tiny glass shards. The walls were covered in red vines that oozed dark liquids and pulsed with her heartbeat. She could feel people around her, those that had passed on but she had their emotions within her – the emotions that passed through them with their very last breath.

The voices had stopped long ago and now were just a dull whisper every now and then, but still she couldn't move – her hands wrapped within the vines that she kept alive. Earlier on she had heard people outside, not in her head, she was still in her home and the door had been open but people were too scared to venture in. Apparently somebody else had been killed, had she done that? They had been scared and it had torn right through her. It was a policeman, she thought, after that no one had ventured in.

She closed her eyes, tired again, how had this happened? That man, who was he? It didn't matter anymore – she thought.

"This is what happens when you keep things bottled in..." she chuckled softly before falling back into her own dreams.

Remy stared out the window, for many hours all he had seen were cloud and sea – the weather was quite calm so no excitement could be made out of it. His gaze wandered over to his two teammates. Jean was fixed on the controls and their way ahead, occasionally glancing to a weather system to check for ever changing storms. Wolverine looked equally bored, staring out his own box window,

"Ey Logan, You eva' been to England?" Remy questioned, trying to fill the silence with some form of substance, the feral turned his head to face the Cajun,

"Yeah – long time ago" he replied, 'where haven't I been?' he thought cynically. "Old history though"

"Stuff you don' wanna bring up?" Remy replied with the obvious, watching Logan's frown deepen, he changed the subject, "Dis Ireland place to?"

"Um... yeah" the older man gave up on spying out of his window,

"It be diff'rent to America non?" The Cajun smiled, genuinely interested which was unusual for him – even he would admit to it. But not very often would he be sent out of America, especially as far afield as England. He'd never really travelled, the financial stability of a thief was as about as strong as a single thread to say the least and so travel had never really come into the equation when trying to stay alive.

"Kinda different. It's smaller for one so everything's more compact I guess. Buildings are different and you got the weather which is nothin' but rain most of the time if I remember"

"I can deal with de rain, cold is another madder'" There was silence again; Gambit got the idea that his teammate wasn't really in the mood for talking. He took his cards out his pocket and began flipping them, then gracefully filing them from hand to hand. More hours passed with little conversation and he was going to go to the length of making card castles before Jean spoke up,

"We're about half an hour away guys" Remy looked out the window and realised it was dark, the night sky had long ago enveloped them and below the illuminations of Irelands cities beckoned them to land.

"Merde..." Remy whispered under his breath, sights like this still stole his attention. Wolverines sensitive ears picked up the Cajun's curse and looked to him, he grinned slightly at the childlike appearance the younger man portrayed. The jet began is descent, circling the targeted co-ordinates as it lowered. Although not on an airfield there was a large valley below them which provided adequate camouflage and insulation for the noise. The craft landed with a jolt that had Gambit and Wolverine gripping the sides of the cabin, Jean still hadn't quite perfected landing.

The door to the passenger cabin opened in an arch, landing to the ground as stairs for the team to descend. Logan reached new soil first, sniffing the air and taking in his surroundings, it was almost pitch black from the lack of nearby street lamps and it appeared that only the stars provided illumination for them. Remy and Jean joined him shortly, Remy grumbling to himself about the below zero temperatures while Jean quickly contacted the professor to announce their arrival.

Remy looked about the darkness they'd landed in. His eyes were naturally sensitive, the ruby of his eyes acting almost like a night vision camera – in the distance he spied more fields separated by stone walls and wild bushes and further on the faint glow of a village. He looked to Wolverine,

"You see it mon ami?" Logan nodded in response,

"What you see must be Slane" Jean informed them, walking up and in-between the two men, "come on then! A brisk walk should keep us warm to" she smiled, walking ahead of the two men.

"Chere you be to perky for Remy sometimes" Remy rubbed the back of his covered biceps, his heavy duster coat still doing nothing in terms of conserving heat.

"Come'on Cajun" Wolverine grumbled to him, catching up to Jean who walked surprisingly faster than he had first thought – the dark seemed to do anything but deter her. Remy was to cold in truth to reply with an insult or quip – instead he grumbled to himself while following the other two x-men "Dis bedda be worth it".


	3. Chapter 3

Warning: parts of this chapter are quite disturbing. although not totally just bear that in mind.

The glow of the nearby village of Slane (or at least that's what they considered it to be) gradually grew brighter and the unyielding bite of the winter cold became just a tad more forgiving. The dull hum of cars on a nearby road caught Wolverines attention and he looked in that direction, beads of small lights glided across in the distance then suddenly disappeared behind hills. While Wolverine checked the surrounding area for wanderer's or people who may question their reasons for being here Jean every now and then scanned the area with her mind. Peace was what she mostly discovered, a little adolescent fear that a light had been turned off.

One mind confused her though, it was like white noise – she recognised it as a mental wall and found that if she tried to gain entry she would alert the individual to their presence. Although they were in no way attempting to harm this new mutant just alerting them to the fact that somebody had the ability to go into their mind would be distressing enough.

Remy was also checking every now and then, his walls always up within his mind but slackened so he could feel gentle waves of emotion. People's emotions were so lacking in control when they slept and totally releasing his shields would have sent him reeling in the pains of people's nightmares or bliss. Like Jean he had felt something out of place, one singular emotion that stood out from the others – fear and freedom intermingling but also a sense of a losing battle.

"Your sensing that to Remy?" He blinked quickly as he looked to Jean, his brows hurt from the frown he'd been wearing. The Cajun nodded,

"Yeah, like de Professor said" He replied, keeping his thoughts on the signal. They continued to walk through the darkness; some of the areas underfoot became uneven as they reached a long silhouette of cast iron gates. Beyond them appeared to be a graveyard.

"Dis thing go on forever" Remy awed, putting cold hands onto the rusting bars "gotta get over it" Jean nodded,

"They're beyond the graveyard – not far now though" The jump over was simple for the three mutants and soon they stood within the confines of an aging graveyard. Wolverine sneered at the stench of death that surrounded them.

"So where do we go from here?" Wolverine questioned, waiting for the other two to pinpoint their target.

"I think... from our location we go North East" Jean replied, a finger stroking her temple as she opened her eyes, whatever noise this mental wall was creating was giving her a headache. Remy stayed quiet - feeling the mutant's emotions wavering, curiosity? Something wasn't right; he felt heat underfoot and the unquestionable sound of heartbeats. He looked to Jean and Wolverine who had already started walking ahead, those two couldn't feel it? He carried on to follow them up, hearing the beats still but not wanting to arouse unwarranted panic in the other two. The sounds must have been linked to this new mutant.

After a few more minutes they made it to a cobbled path, suggesting the centre of the somewhat huge graveyard. Wolverine sniffed the air, a coppery tang making is presence known,

"Blood" His voice cut the silence between the three,

"Blood?" Jean tilted her head slightly, Wolverine nodded,

"Yeah... Someone's died here not long ago" He continued, sniffing the air and looking to Jean, "Bodies gone though, it's just remnants" Jean nodded,

"I guess the cops would've taken it away" She moved into the centre of the cobble path, her mind wandering to the wall that still appeared to be up. If anything it showed that the person was still alive, "We go east now" she followed the path to the right, the two men joining her.

Remy still couldn't get the heartbeat out of his head, but he didn't think whatever was creating it was aware. He felt the sharp pang of guilt but then it was smothered by something else – this was confusing. It was like two beings in one, no more than two, many voices but they were all centred in one being. He overheard Jean and Wolverine talking but was too distracted by his own musings. He already knew the direction before Jean even said.

They reached an arched wrought iron gate signalling the end of the cemetery. The road was widened to accommodate a comfortable distance between the residents of the houses in front and the graveyard behind. They noticed that a lot of the houses had hedges in front so that they couldn't see the eerie place; however there was a house further down the road which seemed to be bare of any foliage except for a few rose bushes.

"I think that's the place" Jean commented, her eyes gazing at the shadows house. She shivered as some disturbing feeling crept up her spine,

"You feel it to chere?" Remy walked up to the red head, she frowned and nodded, "Somethin' not right and we not even dere yet" He scratched the back of his head, "Been gettin' weird vibes from whoever is in dat house since we got in de graveyard"

"And you didn't tell us?" Wolverine came up behind from scanning the area, he frowned and Gambit,

"I didn't want to spook yah" He smirked, receiving a sneer from wolverine.

"If there's something that you sense is out of place you tell us. Anything could happen" Wolverine scolded him, although the Cajun hadn't gone on many missions with them it had been told enough times to him during training. The Cajun shrugged nonchalantly,

"I guess I must 'ave been distracted" he replied, Jean looked to the two men sensing Logan was about to respond with something none to civil she intervened,

"We better get going, we aren't doing any good just standing here" the two men looked to Jean in front and back at each other, both returning fowl expression before following the red head. Suddenly Jean stopped, her heads held out slightly on either side to stop Gambit and Wolverine,

"Someone's coming" she spoke in a hushed tone, the mind waves of two men were approaching and from the images they were cops "hide!" she warned, Jean slid behind a car while Gambit and Wolverine chose similar hiding places closer to where the two men were coming from. Jean peered over from behind the cars bonnet, mentally telling the two other mutants to stay put. They heard them before they saw them, Jean sensed they had been on their break from duty and were now returning to their post. Their post? She frowned and looked to the house

"Damn it" she cursed to herself, she mentally scolded herself for not being so vigilant. Gradually the two cops came into sight, chatting casually to each other as they stopped outside the house. At that point they subdued, Jean could sense why, she had long before they had made it to the house. It just emanated death and sadness, but also that sense of freedom that the professor had talked about. She decided to make her move, the cops obviously still unaware of their presence she thought it better she disarm them rather than the more physical approach of Logan and Remy. With a flick of her wrist she sent the two policemen flying at the cemetery gates, forcefully but just enough to knock them out.

She allowed Wolverine to check the two policemen before coming out of hiding herself,

"Just unconscious" he muttered, "Be out for a while" he smirked at Jean, "you pack a punch red" Jean giggled,

"You know I do" she smiled before scanning round for anymore civilians that may have been around. For now she could only do a localised amnesia effect for the events that had happened here. But for that she'd need to find out what it was they were dealing with.

Remy had come out from his hiding place but had not gone to meet up with Logan like Jean had. Instead when he'd turned around he'd come right in contact with the house. It was the strangest thing he'd ever seen. The house had been turned into an almost decaying husk; deep red vines curled their way out of broken windows like ivy leaching into the brick work. The garden was long and many of the paving stones cracked with the vines seeping out of them. He noticed the rose bushes were awash with life and small moths and butterflies flitted about, weaving in and out of the house and glinting in the moonlight "mon dieu..." he gasped.

Jean turned round, rattled from her mental scan by Gambit's obvious sign of unease; she walked over to him,

"Gambit what's the – oh my..." she paused in mid sentence; her hand clutched on the arm of Gambits duster as she stared at the sight before her,

"What the..." Wolverine came to meet them, his mouth agape and just as dumbfounded as Jean "never seen anythin' like that before"

"Me neither Mon ami" Gambit finally spoke, tilting his head to Wolverine. One of the butterflies came closer to the group, hovering in front of Jean she lifted a finger up cautiously and the butterfly decidedly used it as a perch. Jean blinked at it somewhat bemused before it flitted of,

"Ow!" she gasped, holding her hand to her chest,

"Jean?" Wolverine came up to her defensively and looked down at her,

"You ok chere?" Gambit eyed her hand curiously as she held it out,

"Yeah... it cut me" A thin sliver of red appeared on the red heads finger, she brushed it away quickly, "Well that was weird" she commented,

"There's loads of those things" Wolverine turned back around to the house, watching the small insects dart in and out of the house and the proximity of the house to them. It would be a long stretch.

"We just gotta be quick den no?" Gambit smiled confidently, flexing the tendons in his arms as he clenched and unclenched his hands. Wolverine smirked back,

"For once me and you are on the same page bub" Jean rolled her eyes.

The race to the house became stranger as soon as Wolverine set his foot on the paving stones. Gambit heard a gasp and suddenly the insects became erratic in their movement,

"Shit!" Wolverine weaved in and out of the clusters of insects, using his claws to swipe away the pests. However not all were caught and wings painfully bit into the ferals skin disappearing just as quickly as they'd been inflicted. Gambit and Jean quickly followed, Jean creating a force field around her and Gambit while Wolverine cleared the front door where there seemed to be less of the insects. Soon they were all inside, Gambit got out his cards waiting for anything bigger to attack them. Jean looked about her, sensing the power emanating from the second floor. All three suddenly gagged at the scent that attacked them, an increasing stench of blood and decay,

"What the hell?" Wolverine grabbed onto a wall, pulling it back as if pained as the wall pulsed in his grip. He stared in fascination at the wall and then to the rest of the house. All the walls were covered in the red vines, some of the larger ones pulsed as if they were inside a heart.

"This is like a nightmare" Jean gasped shakily as her senses tried to get used to the powerful smell. She held onto her knee's as her hair fell from her shoulders – she felt the emotional strain of a person upstairs, it was like they knew that the three of them were here.

Remy's head was pounding, his empathic abilities being stretched to the limit. This was where all those emotions were coming from, the smell no more assaulted him than the violent thrusts of anger, sadness, joy and panic did.

"We've got to get upstairs" Jean coughed and threw her head back up, grabbing hold of the slippery banister. The two men nodded, Wolverine making his way up, then Jean and Gambit at the rear allowing whatever was up there to take their anger out on them while Jean subdued the uncontrolled powers. The three suddenly felt the walls shudder, and paused in their ascent,

"What the hell was dat?" Remy questioned for all three before strange strangled noises began downstairs. Remy's eyes widened as he turned around to be met with three pairs of eyeless faces. He yelled before automatically throwing a charged orb at the rotting corpses.

"Run Up Now!" He shouted at the two others as continued to hold back the nightmarish creatures. Jean held back a scream as she followed Wolverine up who was ready to take down anything similar. The insects were more numerous as they reached the second floor, the landing almost looked like a cave as the vines blocked out all sunlight. She felt the mutant power emanating from the door furthest from them and directed Wolverine in that direction.

The sounds of explosions downstairs continued to shake the house as Remy's cards bit into each soulless body that came at him. He was confused as fuck as to what was happening, how could a mutant create something like this? Another corpse was released from the red walls and ran at Gambit before exploding in a mixture of blood, organs and broken bone.

The butterflies and moths now charged at Wolverine and Jean with little mercy, Jean created a shield in front of Wolverine allowing them to move forward but some of the insects still sliced through cutting both Wolverine and Jean. They finally got to the door and Wolverine growled frustratingly as he noticed it had been more or less sealed by the vines. With little mercy he dug his claws into the veins and wood behind, ripping away at wet red and wood.

Remy suddenly heard what could only be described as a series of blood curdling screams emanate from upstairs. They weren't Jeans, thank god, but they were still distinctly female. Now the bodies disappeared into the vines on the walls and the floor and Gambit was left, sticky with blood that had fell onto him. A sudden howl came from somewhere in the house,

"Merde" Gambit cursed under his breath, his stance ready for whatever was coming. The house began to shake as something large came closer. He inadvertently gulped in anticipation as something shadowed the door to what could only be described as a black hole with shafts of light coming from the room he was in. The creature was huge, pushing on seven foot and was male. Its chest muscles flexed as it strained against the series of belts that encased its well muscles arms and torso. It wasn't rotten like the previous things but was covered in blood, its decidedly dark hair dripped with the stuff. Suddenly it snapped its head up to gaze yellow eyes at Gambit who flinched at the action. With a roar it snapped its bonds and produced a cleaver like sword from behind its back. Gambit charged a card as the creature lunged at him.

Jean snapped her head back as she heard a horrific roar come from downstairs. She bit her lip praying for Remy to be alright. With one last swing of his claws and then a punch to the remaining pieces of door Wolverine had gained entry into the room. His breath was ragged as his eyes stopped on a form huddled in the corner,

"Jean" he breathed as the woman came through the door; he motioned towards the corner,

"Oh my..." she put a hand to her mouth as she laid eyes on the creator of this nightmare.


	4. Chapter 4

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She's just a girl, Jean thought, barely just past mid teens. She frowned in concern remembering how old she had been when her powers had surfaced. The girl was sitting in the corner, her legs propped up against her chest and her forehead resting on her knees. Her feet, legs, hands and arms were laced with the red vines that seemed to stem from her. She appeared to be out of breath as her chest heaved.

Biting her lip Jean approached carefully, lowering herself as she got closer, "Sweetheart" Jean said softly. The girl snapped her head up and widened her tired eyes at the appearance of the woman. Jean momentarily paused but then smiled warmly at the girl,

"We've come to help you" she felt the girls panic increase and tried to be as welcoming as possible, "I promise we are not here to harm you" she knelt down next to the girl as she felt the panic subside a little, "did you do this all by yourself?" Jean questioned, looking around the room. The girl nodded slightly, her eyes wandering to the feral and Jean noticed,

"That is Wolverine and my name is Jean Gray, we are people that are very much like you" Jean smiled,

"l-like me?" the girl suddenly spoke, her voice was raspy and dry. Jean's smile widened at the response,

"Yes, we have special gifts like you" she replied, the girl frowned,

"T-this is n-not special" the walls shuddered in her discomfort, Jean bit her lip and tried a different tact,

"Your vines will sprout flowers someday though" she smiled again. The girls eyes twitched and Jean felt the girls mind become erratic again,

"You want t-to take me away" the girl spoke again, this time with worry in her voice,

"Only if you are wanting to, we don't force anything on you" Her voice was full of motherly concern; however that only seemed to upset the girl more,

"Lies!" she screamed and the walls shook further, Jean grew concerned that the walls may crumble if they were stressed anymore "I don't trust you, I don't trust him!" the vines around her thin fingers snapped as she pointed at Wolverine and the small insects flew at him.

"Wolverine!" Jean gasped as she saw her comrade assaulted by bloodied vines and deadly insects,

"Shit! - Jean the girl!" Wolverine cursed, Jean turned round to see the girl rip herself from the wall and run from the room. As the girl exited the door more vines grew up to replace the shredded ones, trapping them in the room.

Remy roared as he threw more explosive cards at the giant, the thin paper sliced into its skin and exploded bits of flesh and muscle in every direction – a majority of it staining more of Remy that hadn't already been tarnished by the corpses. He growled as the mangled skin weaved itself back together again and the beast continued its attacks. The thing swung its cleaver with very little skill but plenty of strength to slice a man in half.

The giant suddenly let go of the cleaver and it shot right in Gambit's direction. He cursed and quickly ducked in time, the sword crashing into the room opposite. Turning his head back to the battle at hand he only had time to see his vision shadowed before a heavy weight came crashing down on him. The creature pinned Remy to the floor, his fanged mouth and piercing yellow eyes glaring down at him.

"Monsieur – you need to brush your teeth no?" Remy gagged as the creature's hot breath hit his face. The giant roared and Remy gritted his teeth at its piercing pitch and flinching as it gripped his arms even harder. The creature seemed ready to strike and Gambit prepared himself for the bright lights – if there were such things – and held his breath. However the inevitable didn't come, he opened his eyes to see the creature staring to the stairway; Gambit craned his neck to see a blur of a girl running past and out the door. The creature screamed this time, recoiling as if almost in pain from Remy before turning to ash on the floor. Remy looked about him, the red vines that covered the walls shuddered a final time before turning brown and shrivelling up.

Jean watched as each of the insects fell to the floor each clinking as landed. She ran over to Wolverine who had until now been unreachable because of the mass of insects that had covered him. He growled, shaking like a wet dog as pieces of glass fell from his body.

"Wolverine! Are you ok?" she worried over him, noticing the large amount of blood and glass shards that were now embedded in his skin,

"Fine" he grunted picking the pieces from his skin and yanking slightly harder at the ones his skin was attempting to heal over.

"So those bugs were actually pieces of glass..." Jean mused, "The girl!" Jean looked to the door and saw their pathway had now been blocked once again by the vines. Wolverine grumbled some obscene profanity as Jean walked towards the wall of red. She touched the vines gingerly; they were no longer wet and pulsing, but dry and faintly warm as if they were a newly dead body. What's more was that they had become rock hard, almost like they had turned to stone.

"Wolverine..." she mumbled, "We might have some trouble getting out of here".

Mercy didn't know what was happening to her and the rather rude awakening by these strangers had been less than a welcome relief to her. Time had become irrelevant after she had first found veins sprouting from her hands and attaching to the wall. The first time she'd been awakened was by the pounding in her head, she felt like more than one person was in her head and each were terrified, curious and disturbed.

Then police had come, she felt the blue and red pulsing lights behind her eyelids and the attempts to get in to the house. They never got to her but she heard the screams as they'd tried, after a few more attempts they'd stopped and the house quieted. When the strangers had come she at first didn't notice, the panic had not been there and the only sign had been the feeling of someone watching her – she immediately pushed them out. She had calculated three just by the aura's that had radiated in her mind, but each had tampered whatever she had been able to feel from people before.

She had tried to stop them, but whatever guards she put up were easily cut down. Then she'd seen the woman, she'd never seen anyone dressed like 'that'. The large man behind her immediately set her on edge even before she'd seen the knives coming out of his hands. There was another but she had set her newly created beast on him... how had she created all these things?

The woman had said that she wanted to help her and all she could think is that they wanted to take her to a mental institution... of course what else could this be other than her going mad? She wouldn't go with these people, where was her father? Shouldn't he have come back from the States now?

She bolted down the stairs with little care of how many steps she missed and the smell of blood became more pungent. Her eyes flickered on her creature its yellow eyes gaping back at her before she swept through the front door. The garden was a tangled mess and her ankles were easily sliced by wandering rose vines and the sharp decaying vines that she herself had created.

Her throat was on fire and was suddenly cooled by the harsh cold of the outside world. It felt like years since she'd actually been out in it. She ran as far as her legs would carry her – the burning in her calves nothing compared to the fear she felt in her chest. The solid concrete of the path soon turned to damp grass as she raced through old and new gravestones that appeared as simple grey blurs in her teary vision. In front of her in the distance she noticed a small building that appeared to have an opening. She aimed for that opening and scurried inside barely registering the place in which she now found herself.

Remy groaned as he got to his feet, his muscles ached from the strength of the beast he had been wrestling. Feeling disorientated he gazed around him, the corpses that had emerged from the walls had fallen to ashes much like the creature – his analysis of the room was cut short by laboured noises from upstairs. He bolted up the staircase to a door that had appeared to be more vines than wood

"Jean, Wolverine you in dere?!" he yelled through the deep red substance,

"Gambit! Oh god you're alright!" Jeans muffled voice shouted back, "There's an energy in this room that's stopping me from sensing the girl... I can't even sense where she's gone!" Jean frowned in frustration, even with the strength of her powers the energy stopped any form of discovery being released, "Gambit, we're going to try and break this door down – you're the only one able to track the girl down – I'll let you know when we're out"

"Compris, Cheri" Gambit replied and shot back down the stairs. As he got outside he glanced at the sky – it would be light soon – he growled at the horizon in its predictability, things could never go smoothly. He got to the end of the pathway and closed his eyes searching for any signs of distress; it was harder now as people were gradually awakening from their sleep creating mixed and blurred emotions that confused his mind as he tried to filter them out. At last he felt a familiar aura that shook with confusion and fear,

"Cheri" he sighed and opened his eyes his gaze fixed on the graveyard.

Mercy held her breath and curled even tighter into the corner she had stumbled into. Upon entering the small building she realised that it was one of the few tombs that resided in the graveyard walls. The majority of the tombs had been destroyed through vandalism and the residence of those tombs had been allocated other graves. This one however was more or less intact but that fact brought very little comfort to her.

Although the bodies that had been placed in the tomb had long ago turned to dust she felt the threads of their beings surge at her presence. She swore she heard mumblings from the two stone coffins that lay within the middle of the tomb and every now and then she was sure the lids would move. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm her nerves, all she needed to do was stay in this god forsaken place until light – surely whoever was after her wouldn't risk the attention of others.

Remy approached the building cautiously, the emotions of the young girl even stronger now as he inhaled the cold dust of the tomb. He heard a person's ragged breathing faintly through the stone as he slid against the wall trying to find a way in he spied part of the brickwork had fallen in. Cautiously he made his way to the hole and slipped inside the darkness of the tomb. The smell was even worse inside and he was sure he could feel the cobwebs seep underneath his coat. As his eyes easily became accustomed to the change in darkness he spied a small shivering mass in right hand corner of the tomb – the girl.

It seemed as if she hadn't noticed him, Remy lowered and slowly moved toward her as he tried to work out when was best to actually signal his presence. He wasn't sure if she was even awake, but a quick check with his empathic abilities revealed that she was trying to suppress her emotions. He gulped and reached a hand out,

"Petite..." Remy whispered softly, the girl snapped her head up and gasped her eyes wide in the darkness. He saw her arms reach out to the walls and thin veins of red glowed against the cold brick, "No, no!" Remy held his hands up as if to signal surrender, "Cheri I'm not here to hurt you" he tried to keep his voice soft. He'd had vast experience with women and how to charm the hardest of hearts but a petrified teenage girl was another thing entirely.

Her breath was harsh as she tried to focus on Remy and he feared she may start hyperventilating if she didn't calm down.

"Y-your with them" the girl glared at him accusingly, Remy frowned,

"You mean Jean and Wolverine?" he questioned, then smiled, "Yeah but I is nothing like them petite" it was the girls turn to frown, "You see, dey always follow de rules but Gambit never have time for any of dat" he grinned,

"Gambit?" the girl tilted her head; Remy noticed her body relax slightly as her fingers crawled down from the walls,

"Dat's my name" Remy replied, "May I ask what yours be Cheri?" the girl looked at him suspiciously for a moment,

"....Mercy" she replied, her eyes lowered to the floor,

"Mercy, dat be a pretty name" Remy smiled and slid down the wall "Now would you give me the honour of living up to your name and showing me a little mercy – I only came to talk" Mercy looked back up at him and nodded slightly, "now, dey be some pretty awesome powers you got there petite, I never seen anything like dat"

"It's fucking ridiculous" Mercy spat bitterly "I never asked for this..." she looked down at her hands that were now caked with dirt, she then looked over to the coffins, "I feel like a lunatic"

"... I can understand" Remy mused, "I felt like I'd never be able to escape when my powers began..." he frowned at the deaths he had caused when his powers had awakened "to many people in my head and not enough space no?" Remy grinned as the girl looked away,

"You have.... powers... to?" The girl questioned the phrasing of 'powers' was a sour word in her mouth. _If these people have powers to then they aren't here to take me to some hospital, _she thought to herself as she watched the older man. The Cajun smiled and nodded to her answer,

"You be right petite, watch" Remy put a hand inside his duster coat and revealed his pack of cards, Mercy blinked and stared at the cards inquisitively. With his index and middle finger Remy selected a card from the pack and held it up in-between himself and Mercy and with a deep inhale of air focused on the card. Mercy watched as a faint pink glow began to radiate around the card and gradually get bigger and deeper in colour. Within seconds the card glowed a deep fuchsia and a slight hiss could be heard. Remy grinned and threw the card a few feet into the air; Mercy looked up her mouth agape and jumped as the small card burst into pink flames like a firework.

"Gambit make things go boom" He smirked and looked to Mercy who snapped her head back down to him, her face softly relaxed back into blankness from the amazement she had held in her gaze just a moment ago,

"I kill people... and mutilate their bodies when they're gone..." she muttered, lowering her head, Remy gazed at the young girl who reminded him all too well of himself,

"I've killed people to Cheri, an I know de feeling is not pleasant" he sighed and slid his cards back into his pocket,

"Will it ever go away?" Remy was slightly dumfounded by her question, Mercy seemed to understand from the silence "these... powers?"

"Oh..." Remy bit his lip, "I don't know... but I know that Xavier can help you to control them" He hated pitching the professor; it was one reason why he preferred to be less talk and more action when sent out on missions. How could he pitch something that once before he considered nothing more than lies.

"Xavier?" Mercy raised her head back to look at the Cajun,

"He de Professor of our School... he can teach you how to control these gifts of yours, maybe help you see how they aren't dat bad" he smiled, he noticed the girl about to speak, the scowl on her soft features showed it wouldn't be pleasant and he quickly interjected, "just give it a try petite, betta dan being alone here eh?"

Mercy stared at the man intently; although the darkness shrouded much of his features she felt no hint of betrayal in his voice. This Gambit had been the first person in years to talk to her as if she was not some alien being – with or without the army of dead people behind her. Now calmed she knew that the lady named Jean had only been trying to help... but in her presence she had felt like a child – the motherly aura that woman gave off didn't sit right with her. She watched the man named Gambit rise and hold out a hand to her, she bit her lip and after a moment gingerly placed her hand in his.

"Chere... I won't let anyone hurt you" the man smiled and Mercy felt warmed by it. She rolled her gaze over to the coffins at her side, they still wished to be released but for them it was too late and what she could bring was hell on earth compared to the silence in which they slept.


	5. Chapter 5

Jean shook from the chill the morning air brought as she surfaced herself from the slowly decaying house. It has taken some doing but with Wolverines sheer strength and her power of telekinesis they had been able to rip away the remaining vines. She paled slightly at the odour which had assaulted her senses as the drying vines had been torn away; the smell of death had never been so pungent.

Her thoughts then focused more on the fact that it was indeed morning, her heart raced in panic as she realised that although it was at the latest 6am people would still be rising and they didn't need to see any this. She looked back to see Wolverine emerge from the low door and wipe the grime from his hairy arms, he would not be in a good mood for a while and Jean sighed from the predictable journey home with the two men.

"Where's the Cajun and that brat?" Wolverine grumbled coming up to meet Jean, she flinched as she heard the footfalls close to her as her mind was already on edge from the threat of unneeded attention. She closed her eyes and searched for Remy and the new mutant and immediately locked on to the wall of noise which still seemed to be the girl's way of protecting herself.

"Their back in the cemetery... whatever Gambits doing seems to be calming her down, I don't sense anymore... bodies" Jean replied, lowering her slim hands back to her sides, "We better get going, I don't want any of the residents round here to notice us" Jean looked back to Wolverine who nodded with a grunt.

Remy helped the girl to stand, feeling the distrust that still lingered in the back of her mind. There was no doubt the girl was odd, with or without powers she was a character but there was something deeper with her and he felt it. He could tell the young girl had been hurt many times in the past and this would have strengthened her distrust. He followed Mercy out of the tomb, thankful for the clean air that met him with the early morning sky. Now out into the semi light of the morning he could just about make out the images of his fellow X-men in the distance, however it seemed that Mercy had spotted them to and Gambit felt her tense. Mercy stopped in her tracks,

"Heey, cheri do not be nervous" Remy moved to stand next to Mercy, patting her shoulder as comfort, he jumped as the girl snapped her eyes up to his,

"Gambit" Her voice wavered slightly "Promise I will be okay?" Remy blinked, he'd never promised anyone anything. He stared into the girls eyes unable to look away from them, he hadn't noticed until now that they were an unusual colour, a pale yellow not unlike the dried chamomile Aurora used in her tea. It was then he was hurried from his musings, the eyes shadowed by a frown,

"Petite, I promise you I will let you come to no harm" Remy smiled his signature smile in reassurance, "my friends are to be trusted oui?" Mercy nodded in reply although it was obvious she wasn't entirely sure but a small smile was shown in return of his. They continued on to meet up with Jean and Wolverine. Jean bit her lip as she catalogued the state that the girl was in, it appeared that the last thing she had worn was her school uniform although now the blue tartan skirt was frayed and torn beyond repair and one side dangling in tatters. Her school shirt and cardigan were soaked and darkened from dried blood as well as the single sock that had remained on her foot. Jean felt the sudden apprehension in the girls footfalls as her and Logan neared them.

"You guys look like death" Gambit joked, trying to break the tension that he felt so very strongly, Jean awkwardly smiled at the jest while Logan remained silent obviously still angered by the events not so long ago.

"Thanks Gambit" Jean replied, absently tugging a few pieces of tiny debris from her hair, she looked to the girl as they finally stopped in pace, "Sorry if we scared you back there" she sensed the distrust in the girl 'must be careful' she mused to herself. The girl didn't respond only looked around her as something ticked behind her eyes,

"Ey, we okay now right petite?" Gambit grinned and patted Mercy on the back softly only now in the daylight taking note of how small she seemed next to him, but the girl still wouldn't respond, "Mercy? You dere?" Gambit leaned over slightly trying to grab her attention.

She heard the question of her name from the large man behind the woman named Jean, but ignored it for right now she heard the stirring around her. Although her 'powers' had dimmed she knew that the remnant souls of the dead still felt it, desired it, for they still craved life. Is this what she'd felt for all these years walking through this graveyard? Each time she'd kidded herself that the scrape, click of whistle of the wind was just that of the elements was actually a decayed body craving to get closer? With no warning to the trio that surrounded her she turned heel and began a quick pace out of the cemetery,

"Wha-? Whoa! Mercy where you goin?" Gambit, startled and the drag of his arm from around the girl turned to catch up followed by Jean who had been taken equally by surprise,

"Logan, are you coming?" Jean looked back, her red hair playing in the early morning light; Logan grunted avoiding eye contact,

"I ain't chasing after no girls, I'll be waiting in the jet" Jean sighed as she watched Logan walk back in the direction of the landed jet, she recognized not to push the matter and in some way she knew that Logan has seen the wariness in the girls eyes when she had first laid eyes on him, perhaps him not tagging along was best for them all. With a quick last glance to Logan she turned and ran after Gambit and the girl.

She felt the gravel beneath her feet as she pounded against the pavement not caring for the pain and more for the distance of herself and that god forbidden cemetery. As she heard the foreign man shout her name behind her she looked up to see herself now out and in front of the row of street her house resided. With a quickened step she aimed for her house, not sure as to why but she had an urging desire to go there. The last tall hedge of the other houses finished and next to it was the dewy rosebushes that she and her next door neighbour had planted two springs ago. The gravel and glass crunched underfoot and she drew her gaze up to what once a white vicarage cottage. Remy came to a halt as he took sight of Mercy her figure a few feet away and static, he could see her eyes wandered over the house which was undoubtedly hers and he grimaced in concern.

"She is untrusting" He breathed out as he felt Jean stop as his side,

"I can see that" Jean replied, her hands coming to rest on her small waist, "She spoke to you though, what did she say to you in that crypt?" Her eyes focused on Gambit who was currently facing away from her his attention fixed on Mercy,

"she is scared, she is angry" Gambit responded, in truth he had done more talking, "I think she is more at ease knowin' we are not white suits now" He turned his head back to Jean, smiling as to reassure,

"You told her about the school? About the professor?" Jean responded in surprise,

"I'm as shocked as you are cheri, not like me to go and pitch the professor now is it?" He turned back and twitched slightly when he noticed that Mercy was no longer in sight, "Merde! You see where she went?" He began walking, quickly turning to Jean,

"No" She responded frustrated, since the disturbing events earlier her game-face had slowly deteriorated, "But I sense she's in the house" she felt relieved that at least one part of her mind was alert. They both ran to the door, Gambit turned to his left and spied the girl in what had once been the kitchen picking up broken bits of porcelain plate. Jean stayed in the doorway as she watched Gambit approach the girl, whatever he had said or done had made the teen feel more at ease than whatever soft spoken words she had voiced earlier on. Her eyes wandered the scene, the walls were died a tinge of pink and the red vines which were once lush and viscous had now become thin and anorexic, not dissimilar to tree branches. Since they had evacuated the house it had turned into more a run down, unlived in house that was slowly being taken back by nature. The smell was now just musty and the ash on the floor which had once been corpses now only imitated thick dust. If she hadn't been so steadfast in what she had witnessed Jean would have just assumed it a delusion or dream - only the dried blood on the girl and the cuts on her own skin were symbols that what had occurred was real.

Mercy picked up a silver tray that had once held an old tea set, she numbly gazed into its warped and glinting reflection.

"Petite?" She felt the solid form of the one named Gambit come to her right side,

"The… things in the cemetery were restless" She replied, her words merging in a slur every now and then "I needed to get out". Remy felt a chill, although he was an empath he had never chanced upon the emotions of someone who for all intent and purpose were passed, the energy of such a creature were entirely different and something he hoped never to come across and for that he felt for the girl,

"They not around you no more?" he replied, quieter than he had expected but Mercy still heard,

"Too far away now, they are to weak… my dad bought me this, when I was ten" Mercy gripped the gilded edges of the silver tray and absently put it to her chest,

"Where is your father?" Gambit was not used to this 'caring' side of him, it had always been number one or at least until he had met Rogue, but this was not a lust or adult love, and he wasn't familiar with being gentle,

"He is in America, hes part of a large company and he's very busy" Gambit was taken aback by her response, it was almost like a well-rehearsed recording – there was no sense of heart ache,

"I see…. What about your mother?"

"Shes dead" again the lack of emotion was almost like an eerie peace, "If I come with you, I can find my father" Gambit wasn't sure of how she'd discovered they were from America, perhaps she had identified Jeans accent,

"Perhaps, America is big no?" He knew it was a small chance that she would find him, he had no idea how much the girl knew about her father or where he was but if it meant she would come with them it was too much of an opportunity to extinguish, "The Professor has his ways, I'm sure he could help you" Remy grinned warmly as the girl looked up, her eyes looked heavy and her pale complexion suggested her fatigue. Her eyes lowered to the direction of Jean who perked slightly at the sudden attention, Mercy placed the tray on a nearby table and with shallow steps walked over to Jean,

"I will come with you" The girl replied, her eyes lingering on anything but Jean,

"If that is what you want" Jean could tell the girl was still agitated but smiled warmly, "Would you want to grab a few possessions to take? Or find some clean clothes?" the girl nodded and turned to head up the stairs,

"I'll go with her Gambit; You keep an eye outside okay?" She looked to Remy, who had watched Mercy as she ascended,

"Yeah, sure" He responded and she felt an unsteadiness in his words,

"She's calm now, I think she'll be fine" Jean squeezed his leather clad shoulder as he passed; he'd obviously been shaken to. She waited for Remy to exit the house before following the girl up the staircase. The upstairs was just as dusty, the door to the girl's room was no longer there thanks to Logan and she noticed the girl crouched down next to what once was a bookcase. She had an old leather satchel in her lap and was carefully depositing what appeared to be tattered books into the confines.

"You like to read?" Jean asked softly, the girl paused,

"I like to write" She corrected, continuing to place the last fully intact book into her satchel, she stood up and placed the satchel against the wall nearest Jean and the doorway. She returned to the middle of the room and began undressing, Jean blinked and turned her gaze from the unexpected changing,

"You do not mind me being here while you…?" She queried, appreciating the girls dignity,

"You're a woman are you not?" Mercy glanced toward Jean as she nodded, "Then I have nothing which you have not seen on your own body" she smirked, "Also, having to get changed for p.e leaves you with little to worry about" Jean quirked her own lips up in response,

"Gambit said your name was Mercy" Jean chirped, feeling conversation was better than awkward silence as she watched the girl wander around in her underwear searching out clean clothes, everything had seemed to have become thrown around in the events earlier.

"Aye" Mercy responded as she slid a clean although slightly dusty pale yellow brassiere on and throwing the old and soiled one on the floor, she did the same with her knickers.

"M-my names Jean" Mercy turned around making Jean jump slightly and the suddenness, "Jean Grey" her eyes glanced at Mercy's torso to see an old whitened scar slither from her collar bone to her opposite thigh, she gave no signal that she'd seen it but noted that she must ask her about it a later date,

"Mercy Connolly" the young girl replied and nodded before turning back and dragging a pale blue dress out from underneath some broken wardrobe doors and pulled it over her head, letting it straighten out as she moved around, "ah.." she breathed as she spied a pair of old, black and very worn doc martin shoes under the tattered remains of her duvet. She grabbed the boots and slung them into the middle of the room before depositing herself down to pull them on,

"W-wait!" Jean gasped, running over to place a hand over hers, the girl jerked back instantly and bewildered, "I'm sorry" Jean bit her lip, "But, your feet" Mercy looked down to her feet and blinked in shock. The pads of her feet still had small pieces of gravel and glass lodged into the tender skin which ranged in differing colours of rouge, brown and purple; she was amazed that she hadn't felt anything until now as the warm sting of pain began radiating from her soles.

"Can I go find some water and a towel? I'm sure we can get some of the pieces out before we leave" Jean decided to avoid prying into Mercy's mind for now instead waiting to get a physical response – she had seen how agitated she had been at the discovery of Jeans ability early on. Mercy nodded and cradled one of her feet in her hands as Jean went in search of the necessary items. Mercy looked around her room and felt like she was somewhere else entirely, the wallpaper had been split and torn and the window panes shattered. Her furniture lay broken or tossed and most of the china dolls had been shattered. Her conscious mind focused to not let the memories of earlier in, she knew the voice that had spoken to her had not been entirely hallucinated, there was something there.

"Right! Lets get those feet cleaned up!" Jean padded in, holding a jug of water which Mercy recollected once having dried flowers in and a pink and white flannel which came from the bathroom. She welcomed the chirpy voice of this new stranger as it blocked out the memories of before, however any other time she may have asked the woman to leave, "Do you mind if i?..." Jean waited for Mercy to make eye contact,

"Your hands probably are steadier than mine" Mercy replied, scooting a foot out in Jeans direction,

"Don't worry, I help to heal wounds pretty much on a regular basis" She smiled before kneeling down in front of Mercy and gently taking her foot, "Why don't you use the flannel to clean your face and arms, you'll probably feel a bit fresher then" Jean smiled as Mercy took the damp flannel, staring and it briefly before proceeding to scrub her face. Jean lowers her gaze to the teens sore feet, somewhat relieved to see that there isn't as much debris embedded there as she first assumed. Carefully she pulls at the small pieces of glass, the shards coming away easily with only a few short gasps from Mercy,

"I overheard you and Gambit, you say your father is in America?" Jean begins, hoping that conversation will cover most of the discomfort,

"Yes," Mercy breathes, taking the flannel away from her face, a few strands of her ash brown hair following it, "He works there"

"Ooh, what does he do?" only a few more pieces left,

"He helps people" Mercy frowns, its been a long time since somebody asked about her dad,

"Really, is he a doctor? Or someone like that?" Jean sits up and takes the flannel that Mercy had placed back near the jug and submerges it in the water before rinsing and carefully wiping away the dirt and blood from her feet,

"Maybe…" the rest of the task is completed in silence, Mercy thanks Jean quietly and reaches to her side table which is still surprisingly intact. Inside is a pair of long lilac socks which feel gloriously soft as she pulls them onto her feet and to her knees. The boots go on with little resistance and she allows Jean to help her up,

"You can walk okay?" Jean worries, watching was Mercy gives her laces a final tug,

"Yeah, they don't really hurt" Mercy replies, looking to her feet and wiggling her toes under the leather.

"If you're sure" Jean allows Mercy to take the lead out the door, her satchel over her left shoulder scuffing slightly against the curve of her hip. Jean took one final look at the girls bedroom, something she had assumed Mercy would do but it never came 'the professor will have a field day analysing her' Jean thought, there were so many mysterious ticks.

Gambit surveyed the surrounding area, the policeman were still down for the count although after a more intent listen he was sure one had shifted to sleeping – a light snore on the airwaves. He perked as he heard a shuffling behind him, lilac clad legs came into view as a slightly cleaner Miss Connolly came through the front door. She smiled shyly at him and he wondered if she was really aware of what had taken place,

"You lookin' much fresher now Petite" Gambit beamed hoping to make Mercy more at ease,

"Its morning" Mercy looked up into the sky, the clouds glowed a deep red, "It'll rain today" she looked back down to Gambit, "If you want to leave we should do it now… Charlie usually comes around at half seven"

"Charlie?" Jean questioned behind her, Mercy turned her head,

"Paper boy" she replied shortly,

"Well, let's take our leave then" Gambit began his walk down the partially destroyed path, Mercy and Jean following shortly behind.

"You sure you've got all you need?" Jean queried one last time,

"I never was one for sentimentalities" Mercy lifted her gaze to Jean, "All I need is what's in here" She tapped her head and continued away from the house.


End file.
